Keeping Myxocyprinus Asiaticus

[emaughan]

Does anyone have any exprience with over wintering Chinese High Fin Loaches? I live in Colorado Springs and thought it would be cool to have a small school of these fish for my pond. I'm just not sure how well they will do when things get icy.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[meepster]

you do know that they get a couple feet long right?

YES, that is the fish you are talking about. When it gets bigger, it will turn silvery, then red and elongate.

 

[ShadowBass]

I've talked to people that have kept them to large sizes and put them in ponds and I have never heard of them overwintering below about 40 degrees, so I would advise against it unless you can heat the pond to consistently above that temperature in the winter.
They don't do too well with prolonged hot temperatures either, so if you're pond is going to rise above about 75 for more than a couple of months it won't work too well either.

This fish may not be the best candidate for your pond even if it meets the temperature requirements because the babies can sometimes be hard to get eating and they like a high DO content, so unless you have a good turnover rate it wouldn't be the greatest option.

Really, these are kind of specialized fish, most people have trouble raising them to adulthood, so in all honesty I wouldn't suggest them as pond fish unless you're going to make the pond specifically suit them. In other words, don't waste your money if you're planning on just putting them in a normal pond because they likely won't make it.

Yes, the large size may be a deterrent also if this isn't a very large pond since they can potentially reach 3 ft.

 

[Miguel]

I've seen several guys try to keep them, none managed to..one sometimes sees them in asian tanks vid's, but only youngsters. Good luck if you decide to go ahead and keep us posted.

 

[ShadowBass]

I didn't keep mine alive.

Sadly the way in which he died could have been prevented if I'd had a chiller. I'll try again eventually but I'll be sure to have all the correct equipment.

Of course that doesn't mean he wouldn't have died mysteriously later on down the road. Even people with the right setup seem to have trouble with these fish. Definately not a good standard pond inhabitant.

VERY prone to being picked on by other fish, sensitive to heat, sensitive to extreme cold, sensitive to nitrates, needs lots of dissolved oxygen, prefers a large amount of current, picky eater, you name it.

 

[meepster]

come to think of it, I haven't actually seen a full grown specimen that wasn't wild caught. I don't think that they get full grown in the aquarium. Keeping them would sort of be like abuse.

 

[ShadowBass]

come to think of it, I haven't actually seen a full grown specimen that wasn't wild caught. I don't think that they get full grown in the aquarium. Keeping them would sort of be like abuse.

There's no reason they can't become fullgrown in an aquarium, but I don't know how many people would be willing to devote that much space to one or several of them.

Most people also don't understand just how sensitive they are to water quality (the adults I'm not sure, but the babies definately are). I'm sure they're very prone to stunting, and I know they're easily stressed, so the stress of shipping and being housed in who knows what kind of enviroment before they're bought may have a lot to do with the failure rate. Most fish stores keep them in way too high a temperature and I keep seeing smaller and smaller specimens, origin unknown, so I could make a pretty good guess that it's not only hobbyist mistakes that leads to their demise.

 

[emaughan]

My bottom pond is 21' by ~10' and 3' deep max. It will be cycling 9-10,000 gallons/hr which works out to a turnover rate of 2.8 times an hour (counting stream volume going into pond as well). I have a surface skimmer and two bottom drains both going into two large bead filters - an Aquadyne and an AlphaOne. Summers are cool here in the springs and I will have two small water falls and a diaphram air diffuser hooked to a Medo piston pump. So temp and oxygen should be okay - in the summer. Winter, that I am not sure of, even if I add a small 300 watt heater to the bottom of the pond to take the edge off the temp. Hmmm....

Thanks for the responses. I was hoping to find someone that has had luck outdoors with them.